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EULOGY 



ON 



THE LATE HONORABLE 



JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, 



DELIVERED 



AT COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, 



• ON 



THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1850, 



BY 



ROBERT HENRY, D. D. 

PROI'BSSOR OF GREEK LITERATXJEE IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE; 



1»UBLISHED AT THE BEQUEST OF THE COMMITTEE OF CITIZENS. 



COLUMBIA, S. C. 

PRINTED BY I. C. MORGAN. 

1850 * 



^' 



EULOGY 



ox 



THE LATE HONORABLE 



JOHI CALDWELL CALHOUI, 



DELIVERED 



AT COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, 



ON 



THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1850, 



BT 



EGBERT HENRY, D. D. 

PEOFESSOr. OF GREEK LITEEATUEE IX THE SOrTH Ci\P.OLIXA COLLEGE. 



PUBLISHED AT THE EEQUEST OF THE COMMITTEE OF CITIZENS. 



COLUMBIA, S. C. 
FEINTED BY I. C. MOKGAN. 

1850 



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CORRESPONDENCE, 



Columbia, S. C, May 17tli, 1850. 
My Dear Sir : 

The completeness of your performance on yesterday, as the Eu- 
logist of the late distinguished Statesman and Patriot, the Hon. John 
Caldwell Calhoun, filled your fellow-citizens, hy whose request 
you undertook the task, with emotions of the profoundest gratitude 
and admiration, absolutely nothing being wanting to render it a per- 
fect tribute ; and as a mark of their appreciation of it, and of respect 
for the author, and that it may be perpetuated in an enduring form 
for the benefit of posterity, I am instructed to request of you a coj^y 
for publication. 

I ardently desire that their application may meet with your assent, 
and on their behalf I respectfully address it to you. 

I am with profound regard, dear Sir, your very obedient servant, 

James D. Tradewell, 
Chairman of Committee of Citizens, &c. 

To Robert Henry, D. D. 



Columbia, S. C, May 18th, 1850. 
My Dear Sir: 

Your assurance, through your obliging communication of yester- 
day, that my recent effort to pay an appropriate tribute of respect, 
to the memory and character of our exalted fellow-citizen and states- 
man, the late Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun, had met with the 
approbation of our community, is a source of the highest gratifica- 
tion to me. No one, however, can be more sensible than myself, 
that the success of the speaker, was chiefly owing to the noble 
subject presented for his Eulogy, and to the fact that the associations 
and feelings of his hearers were in perfect unison with the occasion. 



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A rpqnest to print what lias been spoken on sucli a tlieme, sliould be 
regarded as imperative, and I shall, accordingly, with the least 
possible delay, furnish you with a copy of the discourse for publi- 
cation. 

]My best thanks are due to the Committee for the honor they have 
conferred upon me, and to yourself, especially, for the very cordial 
terms in wliich you have announced their wishes. I pray you both 
to accept the assurance of the highest consideration and respect of, 
My dear Sir, 

Your very obedient servant, 

Robert Henry. 
To Jaimes D. Tradewell, Esq., 

Chairman of Committee of Citizens, &c. 



U ' ■tnriwm«MMgiaiMWiiMMw«MMMM«it<M«awiiiiiiiMiiiiri»iiiniiiliii»iiii imiiiin'iiiiii i"" Qi 



EULOGY 



Fellow Citizens, 

Envy and forgetfulness have, too often, caused the 
greatest merit to be veiled in obscurity. On the other 
hand, the language of panegyric is not unfrequently 
prostituted with a view to confer factitious reputation 
on the weak, the vicious or unworthy. It is fortunate 
therefore for the orator, on the present occasion, that 
the subject of his Eulogy is, in all respects and in the 
highest degree, worthy of the applause and commen- 
dation, of the love and imitation of survivors. If 
commanding intellect, lofty and ennobling enthusiasm, 
devoted patriotism, sustained by unconquerable reso- 
lution and enduring self-denial, eventuating in the 
happiest results for the safety of the Republic, and 
more especially, in the preservation of the equality 
and independence of our Southern communities, 
could entitle any man to the gratitude and veneration 
of his fellow-citizens, the name and character of John 
Caldwell Calhoun can never be obliterated from the 
rolls of fame. Indeed the public voice, with one 
consent, has already so far outstripped the ordinary 
laneuaoe of commendation, that whilst the speaker 
feels himself animated bv the Pennine elevation of his 



»3 



tOMl 



theme, he may yet, with propriety, entertain some 
apprehension, that the execution of his task will 
scarcely reach the level of public expectation. — 
Throwing myself, therefore, on your indulgence, I 
shall endeavor to accomplish the duty assigned me, if 
not completely, at least with a deep sense of its impor- 
tance, and with a sincere and cordial admiration of 
our illustrious Patriot, of whose character I have been 
an attentive observer, from the time when his fame 
was culminating towards its zenith, and attracting the 
admiring gaze of all beholders. 

Mr. Calhoun w^as born in our own State, and in the 
District of Abbeville, on the 18th of March, 1782. 
His father, Patrick Calhoun, a native of Donegal, in 
Ireland, accompanied his family in their emigration 
first to Pennsylvania, and subsequently to western 
Virginia, and finally to South Carolina. His mother, 
from whom he derived the name of Caldwell, w^as a 
Virginian. The accident of birth, is a term applicable 
enough to the artificial distinctions, which political 
arrangements may, with equal facility, establish and 
discard. To have been preceded, however, in the 
race of life by progenitors, distinguished for high and 
enduring qualities of the head and heart, is not a for- 
tuitous occurrence, but a benignant dispensation of 
providence, not only to the individuals so distinguish- 
ed, but also to the communities, who are destined, 
ultimately, to reap the advantages of their exalted 
worth. In the instance before us, the inflexible reso- 
lution; the unwavering integrity of the father; the 



'& 






gentle feelings and the unobtrusive piety of the mother, 
might at any time have been detected as marked line- 
aments in the character of their son. IndejDendent of 
his relation to his illustrious descendant, the elder 
Calhoun, will never be forgotten in Upper Carolina, 
as the dauntless and successful champion of its equal 
riohts and elective franchises. 
// The early education of the younger Calhoun was 
any thing but regular, even unfortunate, according to 
common apprehension. It is, however, the august 
privilege of the highest order of intellect, either to find 
the road to distinction ready, or to make it. His 
instructor, Dr. Waddell, was deservedly eminent, and 
is entitled to the praise of having conducted the early 
training of some of the most remarkable characters 
whom South Carolina has produced. What he pro- 
fessed to do, he did well and effectually, and his 
scholar, in this instance, left him, at least well grounded 
in all the elementarv branches of learnino-. Yet soli- 
tude and silence, affording opportunity for calm re- 
flection and for thoughts often revised and corrected, 
were the great preceptors of the embryo patriot and 
statesman. In the lono- absence of his reijular instruc- 
tor, his mind, struggling for developement, met with 
the immortal work of Locke on the Human Under- 
standing and found an atmosphere of thought, in 
which his mind could freely breathe and expand its 
energies. It was then, that his intellect was moulded 
into that type, which has sometimes been disparaged 
as metaphysical, but which, by whatever name desig- 



8 

nated or desecrated, must forever remain the true 
test, by which the highest order of capacity is distin- 
guished from what is superficial and common. It was 
this stamp of thought, which fitted those twin hghts of 
the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle, to become 
through all descending ages, the Lawgivers of the 
Lawgivers of mankind. Such was Bacon ; such 
Hobbes ; such Locke ; such Montesquieu and Adam 
Smith, whose works must forever constitute the great 
armory, from wdiich lesser minds constantly draw the 
brightest and keenest weapons, with which to assail 
error and sustain truth. 

So averse w^as his mind to every thing like a tame 
and self-satisfied mediocrity, that on some prospect of 
difficulty occurring in the prosecution of his education 

These be liis arts, wlio in the forum seeks 
To curb the wills of men and duly aims 
The people with apt ligaments to bind ; 
Here the state Archimedes fix his foot, 
When \\4th machines of Polity, Kingxloms 
He labors to impel, fierce nations moves, 
And on its yawning bases, shakes the world : 
Featly he conquers all, who rules the mind !* 

* Translated from a poem by Radwell Bathurst, in the Musos 
AngUcanoe, entitled, in Libellum V. CI. Tho. Hobbii Dc Natura 
Ilommis. 1650. 

" Has norit artcs, quisquis in foro velit 
Animorum habenas flectere, et populos cupit 
Aptis ligatos nexibus jungi sibi. 
Hie Archimedes pul)licus figat pcdem, 
Siquando regna machinis politicis 
Urgcre satagit, et feras gentes ciet, 
Imisfiue motum sedibus mundum c[uatit : 
Facile domabit cuncta, qui JVIenti imperat!" 



MV^iMLy ■JuaagEmrwja.tf Atij^BTT -*■■■ nti.^i'A jtf i..t^i .Miij»i.ii>.i t.ij-mjir»4TJijm 



for one of the learned professions, he had cahiily made 
up his mind to hve contented upon his scanty patri- 
mony, as a planter, in preference to embracing pur- 
suits, in which imperfect preparation must forever 
preclude the hope of attaining to eminence. On the 
remonstrances, however, of his elder brother, who 
early set an high estimate upon his talents, he con- 
sented to reconsider the matter ; yet with a coolness 
and intelligence, which even then strongly character- 
ized him, he requested to know, whether the re- 
sources of his estate could be so arranged, as to secure 
him seven years of uninterrupted leisure for prepara- ^ 
tory study. An answer in the affirmative being re- 
ceived and his mother's consent obtained, he at once 
entered upon his plan. In four years from this time, 
he became a graduate of high distinction at Yale. 
There the clearest auguries of his future renown were 
uttered by the President, Dr. Dwight, and reechoed, 
with enthusiasm, by all the young scholar's class fel- 
lows. Over the latter indeed, he never ceased, almost 
unconsciously, to preserve the influence which he then 
obtained. Many of his companions, who afterwards 
differed widely from him in public affairs, yet felt 
themselves honored by their early association, with 
one possessed of such unimpeached integrity, joined 
to commanding intellect, and cultivated his friendship. 
The topic, which he selected for the subject of his 
Oration at Commencement, was the "qualifications 
necessary to constitute a perfect statesman." Nothino- 
could present a more rational subject of curiosity. 



10 

than the recovery of this composition, if it be yet in 
existence. It could hardly fail to mark, distinctly, 
"the boy as father of the man." There must have 
been there the elements of that hioh estimate of in- 
dependence and equality — of justice, truth and un- 
affected magnanim'ty, which were never absent from 
his character. From early life, he was a genuine 
disciple of the Academic School : The great men of 
our country, who had j^receded him — Washington, 
Jefferson, INIadison, all shared his veneration, but in 
the sanctuary of his heart, he worshipjoed nothing but 
truth. 

From College, he repaired to the Law School at 
Litchfield, Here, too, he soon became celebrated, 
especially for his skill in extempore speaking, which 
he cultivated with crreat assiduity. Afterwards, in 
Charleston, he enjoyed the instructions and official 
training of the late accomplished Chancellor DeSaus- 
sure. With a view also to greater familiarity with 
the routine of business, he passed some time in the 
office of Mr. Bowie, of Abbeville. With these arrange- 
ments, the period of study, which he had so saga- 
ciously devised and so pertinaciously pursued, was 
concluded. He was soon after called to the Bar, and 
immediately ranked on a level with its most distin- 
guished members. He probably now anticipated no 
other destin}'-, for a series of years, than increasing- 
labors and augmenting emoluments, insuring the acqui- 
sition of wealth and the recognized honors of his pro- 
fession. His continuance at the Bar, was however. 



'a 






11 



eventually, of short duration, for the finger of Provi- 
dence seems to have marked him for a higher sphere. 
About this time the whole nation began to be agita- 
ted, by the most angry feeling towards Great Britain, 
in consequence of the insults offered to our flag and 
the spoliations practised on our commerce. At a pub- 
lic meeting at Abbeville, Mr. Calhoun was requested 
to draw up a Preamble and Resolutions, and to sup- 
port them by a proper address. Such was his com- 
manding success, that he was immediately nominated 
as a candidate for the Legislature, and subsequently 
elected a Member, at the head of the ticket. Through- 
out life, Mr. Calhoun studied deeply, estimated high- 
ly, and applauded, with due discrimination, the insti- 
tutions of England. His course, therefore, in the 
outset of his political career, w^as dictated neither by 
passion, nor prejudice. His animated call to resist- 
ance arose out of the enthusiasm, which a careful 
study of her history had inspired. In his speech 
made in reply to Mr. Ptandolph in 1811, he has hap- 
pily expressed the attitude and balance of his mind. 
He says, "But the gentleman, in his eager admiration 
of England, has not been sufficiently guarded in his 
aroument. Has he reflected on the cause of that 
admiration ? Has he examined the reasons for our 
hieh regard for her Chatham? It is his ardent 
patriotism — his heroic courage, which could not 
brook the least insult or injury offered to his country, 
but thought that her interest and her honor ought to 
be vindicated, be the hazard and expense, what they 



&" 



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Q> 



12 

might I hope when we are called upon to admire, 
we shall also be asked to imitate. I hope the gentle- 
man does not wish a monopoly of those great virtues 
to Enoland." 

O 

^Mr. Calhoun served but two sessions in the State 
Legislature. Such, however, were the impressions 
left upon it, by his clear and energetic intellect and 
manly enthusiasm, strikino- for the rii^ht, as in the lonor 
run, the truly expedient, that the spell of his influence 
over that body was never lost or weakened, to the last 
hour of his life. He at once o-ave the wdiole weight 
of his talents and authority to the Republican party, 
by strenuously advocating the election of Mr. Madison, 
as most likely to prevent distractions and to concen- 
trate the energies of the people for the mighty strug- 
gle, in which, it was evident they must soon be 
engaged, with the haughtiest and most redoubtable 
nation of modern times. 

It may seem astonishing, that one so young, without 
the adscititious aids of rank or fortune, should so sud- 
denly emerge to eminence. Yet if he early imped 
his wings for the eagle's flight, he only followed the 
genuine impulses of his noble nature. Conscious of 
the internal force, which sustained him, he eyed the 
noble quarry, his country's weal, and launched towards 
his object, with a sustained and undiverted flight, 
regardless of distinction, but eager to compass his lofty 
end. Our institutions awaken generous minds to the 
calls of ambition, by the facility with wdiich the oppor- 
tunity for distinction is conceded to all. Yet our 



6' 



■.rir'.'V^l!JB:ttmti»t:rjmaiiamacinTait uvxw iti r»T. Mui.a.^m-.«^MjiM.^f >fUMy ^ ,|;^y^ 



13 

illustrious statesman, must not be mingled with the 
herd of vulgar asjDirants. He valued station as the 
means of multiplied usefulness and of securino- the 
success of his plans, for improvement or reform. The 
proof is to be found in the fact, that when patronage 
was in his power, it was invariably assigned to merit 
and apportioned to the degree of service among the 
competitors. Indeed, the rapidity of his ideas and 
the clearness of their combination, left him no chance 
for dissimulation and intrigue. No matter what the 
subject might be, his thoughts flowed in upon him 
with the speed of lightning; they were instantly 
marshalled under clear and irrefragable premises; and 
pushed forward to their legitimate conclusions. The 
consequence was that he never had to abandon his 
principles, though as a matter of business, he might be 
obliged, practically, to accept the best compromise 
that he could obtain. His great effort through life, 
was to be himself; to be, what even envy now allows 
him to have been, fearless and consistent in what he 
knew to be right. From his first entrance into public 
life, and throughout his brilliant career he possessed 
that consolation, which the great Cardinal of England 
was only privileged to feel, when ambition had taken 
its flight and left him "leisure to be good." At any 
time Mr. Calhoun might have said, with all the exact- 
ness of truth — 

" I know myself now; and I feel witliin me 
A peace above all earthly dignities, 
A still and quiet conscience." 



@- 



^© 



»&"■ 



14 

His success in life, never at any time, depended 
upon the court, which he paid to the people at large ; 
to any man, however exalted, or to any body of men. 
During his term of service as a Representative in Con- 
gress, the Act establishing a fixed annual compensation 
to members, was passed and voted for by Mr. Calhoun. 
The measure proved, in the highest degree, unpopu- 
lar, and extinguished the political importance of almost 
every man, who had voted for it. A powerful oppo- 
sition was organized against him in his District, and 
he w^as advised by friends to adopt a course, at once 
soothing and apologetic. Such a course he, notwith- 
standing, absolutely refused to adopt, feeling, no doubt, 
like the great Socrates,* in not dissimilar circumstan- 
ces, that it was ignoble and inappropriate to his char- 
acter, to be the instrument of casting the slightest 
shadow of suspicion over conduct, which he had 
adopted as, under all circumstances, correct and 
proper. On two several occasions, he addressed his 
constituents, with all the calmness and self-possession 
of conscious innocence ; defended his course as abso- 
lutely right, and eventually had the satisfaction to find, 
that nothing so certainly wins the esteem and affection 
of the people, as fortitude in the performance of duty, 
and an ingenuous avowal of motive. The true basis 

* " Imitatus est homo Romanus (Rutilius) ct consularis veterem 
ilium Socratem,t qui, quum omnium sapientissimus esset, sanctissi- 
mc(jue vixissct, ita in judicio capitis pro sc ijise dixit, ut no7i supplcz 
aut rcus^ sed magister aut dominus videretur esse judicura." — De 
Ornt. lib. I, c. 54. 

t ouOHv abixoM Siuysyivriixai ffoiSv, rivjf;^ vo/xi^oj fjLsXsVyjv ;ivai xaXkisr^v 
A-TroXoylug. — Soc. Dot". Xen. 4, Mem iv. S, 4. 



15 

of the most effective eloquence, will ever be found in 
the deep-seated, the unassailable confidence, which is 
reposed in the speaker. This is the solid bullion, from 
which oratory derives its value ; art may mould it into 
new and graceful forms, but can never su|3ply its place, 
v/here it is wanting. 

The observation has been so often repeated as to 
have become hackneyed, that opportunities make men. 
It would, perhaps, be more correct to say, that only 
great men know the value of opportunities. Mr. Cal- 
houn entered the arena of the national councils, when 
the stress of mighty events was calculated to thrust him 
into prominence. The timid started at responsibility ; 
the selfish were intent upon schemes of individual ag- 
grandizement ; the grovelling listened only to sugges- 
tions of safety ; the manly elements were still waiting, 
in abeyance, for the advent of that electric flash of 
genius, which should force them into brilliant and en- 
ergetic combination. Embargo, non-importation, non- 
intercourse — a kind of belligerent alteratives, had been 
long sapping the life of the patient, without, in any 
degree, counteracting, the virulence of his disease. 
The people suffered under all the inconveniences of 
war, loss of trade and the interruption of their regular 
pursuits, without any speedy prospect of relief, until 
the operations of their own government had become 
as hateful as the hostile measures of their foreio-n 
enemy. War, on the other hand, with all its horrors, 
has its compensations. It exercises all the forces, both 
intellectual and physical, of a great people ; the arts 



@« 



16 

of life frequently make rapid strides to perfection, un- 
der its exciting influences, and if it have its disasters 
and defeats, it is, not unfrequently, accompanied with 
and compensated by the triumphs of victory and the 
acquisition of renown. Various forms of restriction 
may have their timely use, as notes of preparation, 
but war alone convinces the unprincipled assailant, 
that a nation is earnest, in the defence of her rights. 
When it is considered, that the greatest statesmen in 
the country, were in favor of a temporizing policy, 
and that the greatest orators in Congress adopted the 
same course, under the severest sanctions of party 
discipline, it required no ordinary self-possession, to 
steal a march upon their supineness, and occupy the 
most advanced position of responsibility. Not the 
sm^ooth pebble from the brook, slung by the unerrino- 
hand of the youthful warrior, insjDired more life into 
the hearts of desponding friends, and more certain 
trepidation into the spirit of their presumptuous foe, 
than did Mr. Calhoun's unblenched declaration, that 
his election was for war. At the maoic recollections 
of Saratoga, Princeton and Eutaw, the nation felt the 
pulses of a new life, propagated to its remotest ex- 
tremities. " Let me not" said the orator, "be consid- 
ered as romantic. This nation ouoht to be tauorht to 
rely on its courage, its fortitude, its skill and virtue for 
protection. These are the only safeguards in the hour 
of danger. Man was endued with these great quali- 
ties for his defence. There is nothing about him that 
indicates that he was to conquer by endurance. He 



@, 



17 

is not encrusted in a shell ; lie is not taught to rely 
upon his insensibility, his passive safFering for defence. 
No, sir, it is on the invincible mind, on a magnanimous 
nature he ought to rely. Here is the superiority of 
our kind ; it is these that render man the lord of the 
world. It is the destiny of his condition, that nations 
rise above nations, as thev are endued in a greater 
degree, with these brilliant qualities." 

Mr. Calhoun's first effort derived no assistance 
from any station ^vhich he occupied. He was young 
and scarcely known, but this speech and the dauntless 
resolution, which it inspired, at once assigned him his 
true position, by common consent. Though only se- 
cond on the Military Committee, he was in reality, the 
main spring of its movements. When, in the follow- 
ing year, its Chairman retired from Congress, he suc- 
ceeded him in that position. Nor was he in the least 
pertinacious upon matters of mere precedence, for, 
when at the subsequent Session, the speaker felt 
embarrassed in assigning prominent positions to the 
numerous distinguished men from our State, Mr. Cal- 
houn, as the youngest, at once requested to be post- 
poned, and tha.t a member, from another State, might 
be assio-ned as the head of the Committee on which 
he was placed. The gentleman so honored, declined 
acceptance with great magnanimity, notwithstanding 
Mr. Calhoun's repeated assurances, that he would 
serve under him, with great pleasure. Mr. Calhoun, 
on ballot, was unanimously elected. So when his friend 
and colleague, Mr. Cheves, was proposed as a candi- 



9Kmv^ w ijuu m ^\umiH' *f j ti n ta vi ttf *u i >Mm^.MimM: i. n iqmw>w ^wa>jw. n j| iigia ^ i ^i iMH-mw 



"to. 



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CCTS uwiu apxw^ewwwgnr^MB^narrg ^j^ Bii j^ ' mafl i u 'a t wnj ff ju i wa-u 



18 

(late to fill the Speaker's Chair, Mr. Calhoun, though 
earnestly solicited by many, absolutely refused to have 
his name mentioned upon the occasion. Yet this was 
the man, who was afterwards calumniated as cherish- 
ing a vaulting ambition, which could brook no superior. 
During the whole of the war with Great Britain, 
Mr. Calhoun was the great spirit, who directed the 
storm. His courage never quailed even at the period, 
when by the downfal of Napoleon and the pacification 
of Europe, our great enemy flushed with success, was 
left with the means and the opportunity of directing 
all his energies against us. "Our enemy" said he, 
" never presented a more imposing exterior. His for- 
tune is at the flood. But I am admonished by uni- 
versal experience, that such prosperity is the most 
precarious of human conditions. From the flood the 
tide dates its ebb. From the meridian the sun com- 
mences his decline. Depend upon it, there is more 
of sound philosophy, than of fiction in the fickleness, 
which poets attribute to fortune. Prosperity has its 
weakness, adversity its strength. In many respects 
our enemy has lost by these changes, which seem so 
very much in his favor. He can no more claim to be 
struggling for existence ; no more to be fighting the 
battles of the world, in defence of the liberties of 
mankind." Never was political prophecy more amply 
verified. In a few short months from the time it was 
uttered, the veterans, who had marched almost in 
continual triumph, from Lisbon to Paris, were destined, 
at New Orleans^ to resign the palm of victory into the 



(O)- 



>_' mil III |||||BiiB MiMi i nT'-''""**^'*>«»i;^»^r»^t'3>»-KPi'w*t««rarwwt^r^^ aa 



19 

hands of troops, that had never frequented the tented 
field, nor felt their spirits stirred, by the glorious con- 
course of arms. From behind the darkest clouds of 
adversity, the star of our country burst forth, in more 
than its pristine effulgence. From that day the Uni- 
ted States ceased to have merely a putative rank 
among the great family of nations. It was now felt, 
that she had a right to speak, and speaking, she must 
be heard. If such be now their estimation and exalt- 
ed place among the nations, is there any man, who 
has more contributed to the glorious result, than Cai'o- 
lina's illustrious son? In all great undertakings, the 
first successful step is the harbinger of those which 
follow, and he, who takes it, secures a distinction, from 
which no subsequent chance can eject him. When 
we survey the vast domain, that stretches in boundless 
magnificence, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, teem- 
ing with ever-multiplying hosts of men, happy and 
contented, and able to defend and adorn the rich in- 
heritance, let us never forget what is due to him, who 
in the darkest hour of our country's peril, predicted 
the brilliancy of the future prospect, and rallied the 
hearts and nerved the arms of his compatriots to 
achieve the noble destiny. 

Peace being happily restored, Mr. Calhoun took a 
leading part in all the measures necessary to restore 
the nation, without fear of collapse, to her ordinary 
position, by the restoration of the finances to a healthy 
condition, and by the salvation of those great interests, 
which had started up under the unnatural excitement 



20 

of war. Tlic currency of the country was rotten 
tbrouoh all its vast and overshadowino- ramifications. 
What individuals, if left to themselves, could never 
have effected, was marvellously accomj)lished b}' the 
multiplication of corporate credit, and promises to pay 
were generated in such reckless profusion, that it 
seemed almost madness to dream of liquidation. Mr. 
Calhoun saw plainly that the revival of commerce, 
and the renewal of our intercourse with foreigners, 
must, in a very short time, bring the whole system to 
a halt. Our own citizens miijht be satisfied in the 
receipt of such exchanges as the circulation of domestic 
products furnished, but foreigners could only be sat- 
isfied by liquidating their balances in the currency of 
the world. Correction, he saw, could only come from 
the application of force extraneous to the system ; 
and he proposed to apply a compression stringent 
enough to restore the elasticity of its materials, but 
not powerful enough to crush them. He gave his 
consent and support, therefore, to the formation of the 
Bank, in connection with the reception and distribution 
of the Government funds, not as abstractedly the best 
scheme, but as the best which the country could bear. 
The chartering of this institution is, perhaps, the only 
instance in which a keen perception of the value and 
jealous guardianship of State Rights may be said to 
have forsaken him. The friends of strict construction 
have always contended that, as the creation of a 
corporation is the highest act of sovereignty, if it be 
I not contained, which it is not, among the enumerated 



21 



powers, it could never be permitted to pass as an 
I incident to the powers granted. This vast fiscal 
machine proved itself unworthy of the high confidence 
reposed in it, and, after numerous shocks and perilous 
escapes, reached the term of its existence, having 
precipitated the finances of the country into a more 
frightful depth of destruction, than that in which it 
originally found them. Whilst its rottenness remained 
concealed, Mr. Calhoun defended its rights, and even 
favored the renewal, for a short period, of its charter, 
with a view to the gradual and final hquidation of its 
affairs. As soon, however, as the failure of the scheme 
and the greatness of the ruin became apparent, Mr. 
Calhoun, whilst he felt the impossibility of correcting 
past mistakes, gave his whole energies to the support 
of the only plan, by which future disasters could be 
avoided. In allusion to Mr. Rives's proposal of substi- 
tuting the State Banks as depositories of the public 
funds, he observed: "Nor ought he to be surprised 
■ that those, who joined him in the first, [experiment in 
1836,] should be rather shy of trying the experiment 
ao-ain, after havino- been blown into the air, and burned 
and scalded by the explosion." 

Mr. Calhoun's course on the subject of the Tariff 
of 1816, has often been grossly misrepresented, as if 
he had first been an advocate of the American System 
and then abandoned it. That Tariff was, strictly, a 
fiscal measure, intended to meet the current expenses 
of the Government, and to provide a fund for the 
extinguishment of the National debt. In pursuing the 



-a 



?■ 



.^ 



22 

latter of these objects, there were plainly two feasible 
methods, either to subject the public resources to the 
least possible burden, by distributing the amount over 
a very long series of years, or by a rapid process of 
extinouishment, to remove the weight from off the 
shoulders of the nation, and leave it, at once, free and 
untrammelled in the developement of its wealth and 
power. The slower process would have left room for 
intermediate projects, involving immense outlays and 
eventuating in an indefinite postponement of the re- 
demption of the public faith. New wars might thus 
arise and find us laboring under the undiminished 
pressure of former misfortunes or extravagancies. 
The rapid extinction of the public indebtedness was 
surely a requisition of correct statesmanship, fraught, 
when viewed simply upon its own merits, with every 
prospect of advantage to the country at large. Whilst 
arranging the plan, Mr. Calhoun rejoiced, that inci- 
dentally, vested interests, which had conferred incal- 
culable benefits upon the community, at a time when 
they were greatly needed, would be sustained and 
preserved for future usefulness. Soon after this 
adjustment, he quitted Congress to engage in the 
Executive Department of the Government. His 
commanding position now gave him an ample oppor- 
tunity of estimating the aims and tendencies of what 
was then habitually obtaining the appellation of the 
American System. He saw the inequality of its ope- 
ration, and its utter destitution of all foundation of 
right, either in the letter or the spirit of the Constitu- 



23 

tion. I have heard hini sa}^ that after returning home 
in 1816, upon a relation and near neighbor suggesting 
to him, that some objection had been made to his 
course, he rephed that he regarded the measure as a 
fiscal one; that as a system, the thought had never even 
crossed his mind, and should never enlist his support. 
Whilst pursuing his striking career as a Member of 
Congress, possessing at once, the admiration and con- 
fidence of the entire Union, he was selected by the 
new President, at the formation of his Cabinet, to take 
the direction of the War Department, In estimating 
the value to be attached to this appointment, it must 
be recollected, that the affairs of the War Office, were 
in a state of great confusion, and demanded a thorough 
and searching reform, and that it was a leading rule 
with Mr. Monroe, in selecting his coadjutors, never to 
appoint any man, with respect to whom the humblest 
citizen might have to ask — "Who is he?" This pro- 
motion was received without the slightest solicitation 
and was quite unexpected. Mr, Calhoun's friends 
rather advised against his acceptance of it, on account 
of its crashing responsibility, and from the fact, that 
he was at that time utterly unacquainted with the 
requisite military details. In such matters friends 
may advise, and their communications may be very 
available elements in the formation of a correct judg- 
ment, but at last a man of genius is the fittest estima- 
tor of his own powers. When feeble minds survey a 
stretch of diflficulties, each one makes its separate im- 
pression by tale and weight. But the commanding 



1 



»® 



24 



intellect, separates them into squadrons, and knows 
that ^vhcn two or three are vanquished, the rest van- 
isli spontaneously. JVFr. Calhoun resolved to direct 
the best energies of his mind to the task assio-ned him. 
In doing so, he commenced in a manner strikingly 
characteristic of the man. Instead of a stately air and 
imperious habits, which would have been a signal to 
his agents to withhold all information from him ; 
instead of wordy promises and abortive, because ill- 
considered efforts, with a view to popular and ephem- 
eral applause, lie, for the first few months, adopted 
the course, of a " masterly inactivity." His eye was 
everywhere; his ear constantly open; his attention and | 
observation in continual exercise, whilst his genial tem- 
per and bland but inartificial manners, invited and 
secured confidence. Details in great number and 
variety in this way became familiar, and his subse- 
tjuent generalizations, were not vapid abstractions, but 
tallied with the true state of facts, and at once met 
and provided for the exigencies of the public service. 
A judicious economy, a severe system of accountabil- 
ity, and a constant intelligence with the department, 
were the chief means relied upon for success. The 
consequence was, that a complete synopsis of all the 
transactions of the army, might have been furnished 
at any moment. Universal satisfaction prevailed, and 
it is not too much to say, that no superintendent of 
our military affairs, either before or since, has ever 
afforded more gratification to all employed under him. 
The new Secretary's plans had no trace of servile 



BHasHMrwa 



25 

imitation in them, yet were devised and carried 
through, with such abihty, that a General Officer, 
who had been high in favor with Napoleon, observed 
that he had known no man, who, in the rapidity and 
certainty of his combinations, so much resembled his 
ancient patron, as Mr. Calhoun. 

In the medical staff of the army he also instituted a 
plan for the collection of the statistics of temperature, 
climate, and diseases, which have led to many valu- 
able inferences, that a physician of merit has since 
placed before the world in a permanent form. 

The Academy at West Point, also, shared largely 
in his fostering care. Its course of studies was re- 
formed and enlarged ; classes were permanently fixed, 
and no promotion from a lower to a higher class Der- 
mitted, until the requisitions of the former were com- 
plied with. The ablest instructors were engaged, 
their authority sustained, and they required to trans- 
mit to the Department, a regular and faithful account 
of the conduct and progress of every pupil. It is now 
admitted, even by foreigners not favorably disposed 
towards our institutions, to be one of the most efficient 
military schools, which any country can boast of In- 
deed, the triumph of our arms, recently achieved in 
Mexico, abundantly attests the scientific attainments 
and the high efficiency of its pupils, when in actual 
service. 

Time rolled on, and the commencement of Mr. 
Monroe's second term having been entered upon, it 
was natural for the country to discuss the merits of 

4 



26 

those, who were conceived fit to succeed him. There 
was, in Pennsylvania, a very warm fechng in favor 
of Mr. Calhoun, whilst in Carolina, many were anx- 
ious to have the claims of Mr. Lowndes considered. 
Without the privity of either, their respective friends, 
according to the bent of their predilections, nominated 
the one or other, for the high station. Between the 
two the kindest feelings and the highest estimate 
of each other's character, had long subsisted. Mr. 
Calhoun, as rather the younger, made the first ad- 
vance towards the removal of this awkward dilemma, 
by assuring his rival of his utter previous ignorance of 
the proposed nomination, and by requesting that the 
whole proceeding should create no change in their 
friendly relations. Ambition is generally so rank in 
its appetite and so oblivious of the calls of magnanimity, 
that the conduct pursued by these two favorite sons 
of our State, on this occasion, affords a touching spec- 
tacle of disinterested patriotism. It is cheering to 
refliect, that their friendship never suffered the slight- 
est diminution. 

It is to be regretted, for the cause of sound princi- 
ples, that the rivalry between Mr. Calhoun and Mr. 
Crawford did not settle down into like harmony. 
Educated together, there had always existed between 
them a certain degree of emulation, not inconsistent 
with stronfT attachment. Mr. Crawford had, at the 
last election for President, been brought forward by 
his friends on a caucus nomination. As Chairman of 
the Committee on Foreign Relations, Mr. Calhoun 



27 

had had frequent intercourse with Mr. Monroe, who 
was Secretary of State under Mr, Madison. The 
greater age, the revolutionary claims and the long 
j)ublic service of Mr. Monroe, had made him promi- 
nent, and he was regarded as in the legitimate line of 
the succession. That under all the circumstances, 
Mr. CalhoOn should have conceived a hioh deoree of 
attachment for Mr. Monroe, and have I'egarded his 
elevation to power with approbation, can afford no 
ground of censure to any reasonable man. In addi- 
tion, he had always expressed himself as opposed to 
caucus nominations. He reo;arded them as filching 
from the people, the highest and most animating privi- 
lege, which, by the Constitution, they had reserved to 
themselves. By a corrupt understanding also, among 
party managers, it followed, as a necessary result, that 
all the great officers of the Government were designa- 
ted beforehand. 

Popular enthusiasm in Pennsylvania, having been 
strongly demonstrated to be in favor of General Jack- 
son, Mr. Calhoun very readily acquiesced in the 
withdrawal of his name by his friends. Being, how- 
ever, subsequently adopted both by the partizans of 
General Jackson and Mr. Adams, as their candidate 
for Vice-President, he was elected with little opposi- 
tion. 

Mr. Calhoun was never without misgivings of the 
propriety of advancing to the highest station in the 
land, one whose merits, though of the highest order, 
were purely military. Yet, so far as he had given any 



.9 



28 

indication of opinion, the hero of New-Orleans always 
professed himself to be a disciple of the school of 
Jefferson ; a rigid constructionist and a great advocate 
of economy and retrenchment. On the other hand, 
Mr. Adams was known to favor the most latitudinarian 
construction, and to regard the "general welfare" as 
the one comprehensive and essential clause of our 
federal compact. In the event, each disappointed 
public expectation. Mr. Adams, in practice, was 
comparatively moderate and economical, whilst Gen- 
eral Jackson pushed the Presidential prerogative to an 
extent, which laughed all responsibility to scorn. His 
first term of service exhibited an unhesitating abandon- 
ment of his best friends and an unblushing canvass for 
reelection. Towards the end of his term of service 
the Government had become the same with that of 
Rome under Octavius : the forms of freedom were 
speciously observed, where no present exigency 
tempted to a violation of them, but in reality the em- 
pire had found a master. 

When sectional legislation and practical disregard 
of all principle had reached this unhappy eminence, 
Mr. Calhoun saw, at a glance, that the expectation of 
reform through the ballot box was desperate. The 
people were literally fascinated, with the military fea- 
tures of an administration, in which will had succeeded 
to the place of law. Tried by any standard of en- 
lightened policy, it was a satire upon free institutions. 
The liquidation of the National debt was the avowed 
motive for enormous taxation ; almost equal in amount 



(?<>•' 



=-p> 



29 

to one half the exports of the country, and when it 
was found, that this excuse was rapidly vanishing, the 
still more monstrous proposition of distributing the 
surplus revenue began to be ventilated. In all the 
annals of human infatuation and misgovernment, there 
is nothing on record to equal this. Cromwell's taxa- 
tion, the first of protective systems, was so managed as 
to stimulate, perhaps unwisely, the developement of 
British resources, but ever}^ farthing of it was neces- 
sary to meet the expenditures of the country. For 
the last fifty years, the greatest minds of all nations, 
Turcot and Adam Smith and Franklin had been 
occupied in demonstrating, that a country never flour- 
ishes so much, as when all restrictions upon industry 
and competition are removed, and men, for success, 
are commended to their own unshackled energies, but, 
as if to show how small the wisdom, which usually 
presides over the affairs of nations, America gathers 
up the cast off* rags of European policy, and feels daz- 
zled and delighted, with the supposed splendor of her 
political apparel. 

South Carolina, from generous motives, had tolera- 
ted the Tariff' of 1816, but every fresh impost, after 
that, met with her decided opposition and protest. 
She had not bargained for the semblance of indepen- 
dence, but the substance, and that the forms of law 
were observed, w^hilst intolerable burdens were heajDed 
upon her, she held to be no alleviation, but only the 
addition of insult to injury. So early as 1820, the 
House of Representatives of South Carolina affirmed 



aacx'SBBeaaEm 



'b 



rniWT — — -i-^*«i—^*ncyr»ac-.if>»i 



30 

the principle of Free Trade, but declined embarrass- 
ing the action of Congress, in what seemed to be 
intended for the regulation of Commerce. In 1825, 
both branches of our Legislature, denounced as un- 
constitutional, all duties levied for the purpose of 
protecting domestic manufactui-es. In 1827, the Leg- 
islature again, in a very able memorial, reaffirmed 
the whole subject of State Rights and a limited inter- 
pretation of the Constitution, and specially denounced 
the Tariff of Protection as unconstitutional, and so 
instructed our Senators in Congress. In 1828, there 
was a very energetic and eloquent Protest, accompa- 
nied by instructions. To these. Resolutions were 
appended, in which it is boldly announced, " That the 
measures to be pursued, consequent on the persever- 
ance in this system, are purely questions of expediency 
and not of allegiance." Simultaneous with these, 

a 

there was read and ordered to be printed, an ExjDosi- 
tion of singular ability, known to have proceeded 
from the pen of Mr. Calhoun. In it, the iniquitous 
operation of the Tariff' for protection, is exposed with 
profound ability, and yet most dispassionately argued. 
The document, however, is still more remarkable for 
its correct estimate of liberty, and the safeguards 
necessary to secure it, and for its lucid developement 
of the practical working of the Constitution, "Liber- 
ty," it is there strongly urged, "comprehends the idea of 
responsible power, that those who make and execute the 
laws should be controlled by those on whom they ope- 
rate, that the governed should govern." * * * * 



'-^ 



©, 



31 



* * 



" In fact, the abuse of delegated power, and 
the tyranny of the greater over the lesser interests of 
society, are the two great dangers, and the only two, 
to be guarded against ; and if they be effectually 
guarded, liberty must be eternal." ****** 
" No government, based upon the naked principle that 
the majority ought to govern, however true the maxim 
in its proper sense, and under proper restrictions, ever 
preserved its liberty for a single generation." * * * 
* * * " Those governments only, which provide 
checks, which limit and restrain within proper bounds 
the power of the majority, have had a prolonged ex- 
istence, and been distinguished for virtue, power and 
happiness. Constitutional government, and the gov- 
ernment of a majority are utterly incompatible, it be- 
ing the sole purpose of a constitution to impose limita- 
tions and checks upon the majority. An unchecked 
majority is a despotism — and government is free, and 
will be permanent in proportion to the number, com- 
plexity and efficiency of the checks, by which its pow- 
ers are controlled." ****** 
" Doubtful powers," it is there further contended, 
"are not to be assumed, but if requisite, obtained by the 
stipulated majority of three fourths." There appears 
here to be a hast}^ concession, which at a later period, 
when his mind had more maturely reflected upon the 
subject, Mr. Calhoun would more warily have guard- 
ed against. It is said, "But by an express provision 
of the Constitution it may be amended or changed, by 
three fourths of the States ; and each State, by assent- 



sancsKTrBOB 



.9 



32 

ing to the Constitution with this provision, has surren- 
dered its original rioht as a sovereion, which made its 
individual consent necessary to any chanoe in its 
pohtical condition, and has placed this important 
powe]', in the hands of three fourths of the States, in 
which the sovereignty of the Union under the Con- 
stitution, does now actually reside." The true doc- 
trine, in which Mr. Calhoun afterwards acquiesced, is 
that sovereignty or the permanent right to exact obe- 
dience, is indivisible and indispensable to the safety 
and happiness of every independent community. It 
cannot escheat as an incident ; it can only be lost by 
express abandonment and a deliberate consent to be 
merged in some other sovereignty. Now, every feet 
in our History — our colonial governments, our sepa- 
rate declaration of independence ; our subsequent 
several adoption of the Confederation and Constitu- 
tion, and the terms, in which the mother country 
acknowledged the distinct independence of each 
State, demonstrated beyond contradiction, the sove- 
reign character of each State. Accordingly, there is 
no mode of avoiding the force of the conviction, that 
each State is the uncontrolled depository of all the 
functions and powers necessary to its own safety and 
progress. In his speech on the Force Bill, the magni- 
tude of the danger, the crying enormity of the insult, 
caused his mind, now excited to the full develope- 
ment of its energies, to ascend to the highest platform 
of truth. The whole doctrine is so clearly conceived 
and so lucidly expressed, and presents us with so 



■ H f ■ ■I BP *— J i 



'!« 



33 

noble a specimen of his style, that there needs no 
apology for quoting it ; at least not in this assembly, 
nor on this occasion, when the deepest feelings of the 
heart awaken, by contrast, the highest inspirations of 
the understanding. " In spite of all that has been 
said," pronounces this great master of ^political wisdom, 
" I maintain that sovereignty is in its nature indivisible. 
It is the supreme power in a state, and we might just 
as well speak of half a square or half a triangle, as half 
a sovereignty. It is a gross error to confound the 
exercise of sovereign powers, with sovereignty itself, or 
the delegation of such powers with a surrender of them. 
A sovereign may delegate his powers to be exercised 
by as many agents as he may think proper, under 
such conditions and with such limitation as he may 
impose ; but to surrender any portion of his sovereign- 
ty to another is to annihilate the whole. The Senator 
from Delaware" [Mr. Clayton] "calls this metaphysi- 
cal reasoning, which, he says he cannot comprehend. 
If by metaphysics he means that scholastic refinement, 
which makes distinctions without difference, no one can 
hold it in more utter contempt than I do; but if on 
the contrary he means the power of analysis and com- 
bination — that power which reduces the most com- 
plex idea into its elements, which traces causes to 
their first principles, and by the power of generaliza- 
tion and combination, unites the whole in one harmo- 
nious system — then, so far from deserving contempt, 
it is the highest attribute of the human mind. It is 
the power, which raises man above the brute — which 

5 



ICm 



34 

distinoulshes his faculties from mere saoacitv, which 
he holds in common with inferior animals. It is 
this power which has raised the Astronomer from 
being a mere oazer at the stars to the high intellectual 
eminence of a Newton or Laplace, and Astronomy 
itself, from a mere observation of insulated facts, into 
that noble science, which dis2;)lays to our admiration 
the system of the universe. And shall this high power 
of the mind, which has effected such wonders when 
directed to the laws which control the material world, 
be forever prohibited under the senseless cry of meta- 
physics, from being applied to the high purpose of 
political science and legislation ? I hold them to be 
subject to laws as fixed as matter itself, and to be as fit 
a subject for the application of the highest intellectual 
power. Denunciation may indeed, fall upon the 
philosophical inquirer into these first principles, as it 
did upon Galileo and Bacon when they first unfolded 
the great discoveries which have immortalized their 

a 

names; but the time will come, when truth will prevail 
in spite of prejudice and denunciation, and when 
politics and legislation will be considered as much a 
science as Astronomy and Chemistry." 

I yet retain a lively recollection of the impression 
produced upon me by this magnificent specimen of 
the highest oratory. In the lapse of years, it has lost 
nothing of its interest. How majestic its cadence, yet 
how severe its simplicity; the sublime of thought has 
naturally suggested the sublime of language, and the 
judgment, the fancy and the feelings all move in nim- 



©' 



35 

ble responses to the Speaker's power. Standing in 
the Capital at that moment, and battUng in sohtary 
grandeur against fraud and force, he might have been 
hailed as the Atlas of the State, free and strong- 
enough to sustain the burden, or to hurl it again into 
confusion and chaos. Was not his moderation as 
remarkable as his merit? 

In the summer of 1831, Mr. Calhoun put forth a 
very able address, on the subject of the relations, 
which the State and General Government bear to 
each other. It is a very powerful paper, and fixed, 
the political faith of many, who, till then, had been 
unable to decide for themselves. It was, however, 
superseded in its importance, by another, addressed, to 
General Hamilton, in which the whole subject was 
resumed and advanced to the consideration of the 
remedy in State interposition and nullification. It is 
an able didactic composition, close and compact in its 
arrangement, presenting a masterly synopsis of the 
fundamental principles of free government. It is 
chiefly remarkable for the perspicacity and vigor, 
with which it demonstrates the vast importance of 
checks and balances in every form of popular polity. 
Under the designations of the absolute and concurring 
majorities, he traces the oscillations of power, and 
shows how, by a combination of different materials in 
the prime mover, and a well calculated antagonism in 
their forces, the motion of the entire machine may be 
rendered equable and permanent. The whole ex- 
hibits the developements of a mind long familiar with 



@- 



KoaaausKa 



36 

the aptest precedents both of ancient and modern 
times. Speaking of the two great adjusting principles 
before referred to, he observes — "Of this modification 
the British and Spartan governments are by far the 
most remarkable and perfect examples. In others 
the right of acting — of making and executing the 
laws, was vested in one interest, and the right of 
arresting or nullifying in another. Of this description 
the Roman Government is much the most striking 
instance. In others, the right of orio^inating or intro- 
ducing projects of laws was in one and of enacting 
them in another : as at Athens, before its government 
degenerated, where the Senate proposed, and the 
General Assembly of the people enacted laws," 

It is impossible to resist quoting the following para- 
graph, in which the brightest rays of his mind appear 
to be drawn to a focus of the utmost intensity of light 
and heat. " Two powers," he remarks, " are necessa- 
ry to the existence and preservation of free States : a 
power on the part of the ruled to prevent rulers from 
abusing their authority, by compelling them to be 
faithful to their constituents, and which is effected 
through the right of suffrage ; and a power to coinpel 
the parts of society to he just to one another, hy compell- 
ing them to consult the interest of each other, which can 
only be effected, whatever may be the device for the 
purpose, by requiring the concurring assent of all the 
great and distinct interests of the community to the 
measures of the government. This result is the sum 
total of all the contrivances adopted by free States to 



37 

preserve their liberty, by preventing the conflicts 
between the several parts or classes of the community. 
Both jDOwers are indispensable. The one as much so 
as the Other. The rulers are not more disposed to 
encroach on the ruled, than the different interests of 
the community on one another, nor would they more 
certainly convert their power from the just and legiti- 
mate objects for which governments are instituted 
into an instrument of aggrandizement, at the expense 
of the ruled, unless made responsible to their constitu- 
ents, than would the stronger interests theirs, at the 
expense of the weaker, unless compelled to consult 
them in the measures of the government, by taking 
their separate and concurring assent. The same 
cause operates in both cases. The constitution of our 
nature, which would impel the rulers to oppress the 
ruled, unless prevented, would in like manner, and 
with equal force, impel the stronger to oppress the 
weaker interest. To vest the right of government in 
the absolute majority, would be in fact, hut to embody 
the will of the stronger interest, in the operations of the 
government, and not the loill^ of the whole community, and 
to leave the others unprotected, a p'ey to its ambition and 
cupidity, just as would be the case, between rulers and 
ruled, if the right to govern was vested exclusively in 
the hands of the former. They would both be, in 
reality, absolute and despotic governments : the one 
as much so as the other." 

From the earliest records of their colonial history, 
down to the present time, the people of South Caroli- 



( \m 



38 

na have shown themselves httle disposed to tolerate 
the abuses of government. They wrested the reins 
of power from the incompetent hands of the proprie- 
tary rulers, by a very high-handed revolution. To 
the royal authority, they for a half a century, submit- 
ted with a devotion, which might have been almost 
denominated filial. The moment, however, that it 
became apparent, that advantage was about to be 
taken of this state of things to evacuate the principles 
of the Constitution, indignation and defiance were 
substituted for loyalty and obedience. Brought into 
existence, almost simultaneously with the great Revo- 
lution of 1688, her notions were all in favor of regu- 
lated liberty; not the comet-like coruscation, which 
starts in madness from its sphere, but maintaining a 
well ascertained orbit, impressed upon her, alike by 
the dictates of freedom and the demands of subordi- 
nation. Mr. Calhoun, born on the soil and nurtured 
in early life, amidst the inspiring associations of a revo- 
lution, whose success had been cemented by the blood 
of his relatives and family connections, knew the cost 
of independence, and felt that it could not be perpetu- 
ated by mere parchment stipulations, but by the intel- 
ligence and dauntless resolution of those, who had 
inherited it. All the due preliminaries of conflict, 
explanation, remonstrance, entreaty, protest, having 
been exhausted, he felt, that some decided form of ac- 
tion was necessary to convince our antagonists that 
we were in earnest. The enactment of the iniquitous 
Tariff of 1832, in the face of so many calls and rea- 



a)' 



■^ 



39 

sons for forbearance, with the Treasury full to over- 
flowing, and wild schemes of distribution afloat, 
seemed to announce the knell of freedom, and emphat- 
ically to proclaim, the will of the majority and not the 
Constitution to be the law of the land. To this was 
joined the kindly memento of the President, of an 
earlier date, that among his "high and sacred duties" 
was the exercise of coercion, should the common- 
wealth prove refractory. The Legislature of the 
State being specially convened by Governor Hamilton, 
resolved upon the call of a Convention, the highest 
earthly authority known to the people of South Caro- 
lina, and the legitimate successor of that, by which the 
Constitution had been adopted. The Convention 
pronounced the whole system of a Tariff for protec- 
tion, to be fatal to the pi'osperity of the people of the 
State, and a g7'oss, deliberate and palpable violation of 
their Constitutional rishts. This was immediatelv 
followed by an address to the State, in which the 
Convention declared: "We have solemnly resolved 
upon the course, which it becomes our beloved State 
to pursue — we have resolved that until these abuses 
be reformed. No more Taxes shall be paid here. "Mil- 
lions for defence, but not a cent for tribute." They 
concluded with a religious appeal, in a tone of the 
profoundest reverence — and with the solemn injunc- 
tion to their fellow-citizens, "Do your duty to your 
country and leave the consequences to God !" 

General Hayne having been designated as successor 
to the chief magistracy of the State, resigned his situ- 



©= 



.a> 



40 

ation as Senator in Congress. Mr. Calhoun was im- 
mediately appointed to the vacant office, and though 
it was seen to be one of imminent peril and vast res- 
ponsibility, resigned, with great self-sacrifice, the Vice 
Presidency of the Union, in order to sustain his own 
principles now become the voice of the State. From 
that period, so completely was he rivetted in the affec- 
tions of the people, that his voice and that of the peo- 
ple, were one. Thenceforth, politics and parties, 
within the State, were scarcely heeded by him. All 
the energies of the man were directed to the accom- 
plishment of the reforms which he knew to be neces- 
sary to the preservation and permanence of the Union. 
For that Union, in the use of its legitimate powers, 
with all its associations of glory and renown, derived 
from its past achievements, and all its prospects for 
the future developement of its immense physical, men- 
tal and moral resources, no man entertained a higher 
or intenser admiration than he. It was the great 
arena in which his own reputation and renown had 
reached that palmy height, which was the envy of 
many and the admiration of all. In addition to the 
working out of their own happy destiny, he hoped to 
see the United States, affording the other nations of 
the world a model of rational and permanent liberty. 
His feelings were now intensely wound up, in refer- 
ence to his double task of saving the Union and rescu- 
ing the country at large, from the most deplorable 
doom that can await a nation — the triumph of irre- 
sponsible power. At this time, during a short stay, 



'& 



41 

which he made in Columbia, I called upon him and 
found him alone. He never appeared in better health, 
nor calmer and more self-possessed. On my mention- 
ing the report, which extensively prevailed, that the 
President intended to have him arrested as soon as he 
arrived in Washington, he replied with a smile on his 
countenance, but with perfect dignity : " It will not be 
done ; my opponents are too politic to attempt it, but 
as far as myself and the cause are concerned, I should 
desire nothing better; it would set people a thinking." 
On his arrival at the seat of government, he took the 
earliest opportunity, from his place in the Senate, to 
reaffirm his principles, and offered a series of resolu- 
tions, in which they were succinctly and forcibly em- 
bodied. He thus obtained a hearing, and if his views 
were attacked, the privilege of reply. Mr. Webster 
wished Mr. Calhoun to precede him in the debate on 
the Force Bill, and carried his point, but having also 
incidentally touched upon the resolutions, Mr. Calhoun 
in his rejoinder so completely established the basis of 
his doctrine, that his magnanimous antagonist was 
oblioed to admit, that if the Historical facts, concern- 
ino- the orioin and prooress of the Constitution, were 
as had been stated, that it was impossible to escape 
the conclusion. Mr. Clay vvihingly lent himself to the 
work of compromise, and Mr. Calhoun, anxious only 
for the restoration of sound princijDles, was willing to 
allow very moderate rates of reduction, operating 
through a long series of years. Even in undoing, 
what had been badly done, Mr. Calhoun was unwill- 



®* 



6 ___„™ 



42 

ing to crush the })rivate citizen, who had been be- 
guiled into hazardous enterprizes by the irregular 
action of his rulers. Indeed, to his wise and prophetic 
mind, a dissolution of the Union was one of the great- 
est evils and second only to that of submission to the 
flat of an uncontrolled majority. Never was there a 
more cheering proof of what a single exalted mind, of 
competent ability, can effect for the preservation of 
liberty. Only a few short months after the most vex- 
atious of imposts had been laid with a reckless hand, 
the whole grievance, so far as related to the possibility 
of future action, was removed. The Force Bill, on 
which Mr. Calhoun's admirable effort has been 
already noticed, was indeed past, but it was only the 
surly snarl of the mastiff, when his prey has es- 
caped. If fighting had been the object. South Caro- 
lina was prepared, at all points, for the conflict ; but 
she saw plainly that in a polity, which was understood 
to be founded upon the consent of the governed, the 
moment coercion became necessary to retain any 
member in the Union, the system became a shapeless 
abortion. She was determined not to assume the 
responsibility before the world, of dissipating all the 
animating hopes, which rallied around this hitherto 
successful experiment in self-government. Along 
with the acceptance of the compromise act, by the 
Convention, the Force Bill ceased to be of the slight- 
est significance. As soon as things were happily ad- 
justed at Washington, Mr. Calhoun hastened to Car- 
olina, with the utmost expedition, in order that the 



lanwpgHi.vMPKU'liii 



-© 



e 



"■•fiTP"*' 11 I II iimTiTiT r''^™''''^'''^'*fTV'*TriwrT'^''^*°"*'^'*'**'^^ 



4 



*? 



State mioht not be without the influence of his mode- 
ration and calm judgment That the Union is safe 
and that our scheme of regulated liberty continues to 
flourish, is more owing, under Providence, to Mr. 
Calhoun, than to all other causes put together. In- 
deed, up to the latest period of his existence, he never 
failed to warn the young and inexperienced, not rashly 
to discard so rich an inheritance. He maintained, 
that whatever might be the just causes of discontent, 
and whatever the acrimony of our struggles to remove 
them, we, in the United States, at last enjoyed more 
true happiness, than any other country of the globe. 

Time w^ould fail us, should we attempt even the 
most cursory glance at all the important discussions, 
in which Mr. Calhoun took a part, for the next ten 
years. The most remarkable of these were on the 
Sub- Treasury ; the Distribution Bill ; the Treaty of 
Washington, and the Oregon Bill. With regard to 
Oregon, his plan of policy would have consisted in 
continuing the Treaty for joint occupation, and for the 
rest, to be content with a " masterly inactivity." To 
use his own words, " There is often in the affairs of 
government, more efficiency and wisdom in non-action 
than in action." Pretenders in all professions, we may 
add, rush into action upon all occasions, because they 
have no rule of right within themselves. They selfish- 
ly hope, that a momentary success may answer the 
demands of their own vanity or cupidity. They dis- 
course blandly of the wants and expectations of the 
public, but the sagacious know, that they mean only 

I __„__„ 



.& 



44 

tlicmselves. Accordingly, the whole aftair was aban- 
doned to popular enthusiasm, which soon produced 
a crisis, attended with a commercial pressure, caused 
by the fear of a protracted war, with our most valu- 
able customer. Mr. Calhoun felt that justice was as 
much a cardinal virtue amono- nations as amomx men. 
Of a property long held in common, he knew that it 
was in vain to set up a claim which covered nearly 
the whole of it. In opposition to all party clamor, he 
contended for an equitable adjustment; one which a 
great nation might accede to without loss of honor. 
Upon this basis a treaty was at last concluded, in 
which both countries have entirely acquiesced. This 
whole transaction afforded a remarkable proof of the 
correct and exalted rules of action, which invariably 
influenced the conduct of this oreat man. When 

En o land 

<^ 

•' did bestride tlie nanow world 
Like a Colossus" — 

trampling the rights of unoffending and defenceless 
nations under foot, he felt that America should make 
no other answer to insult, than a cartel of deliance. 
But when peace had been restored and long friend- 
ship ripened into habit, and where the difficulty in- 
volved no great principle, to rush on war, with all its 
hazards and all his horrors, appeared to him, not mag- 
nanimitv, but madness. 

Towards the close of Mr. Tyler's administration, 
Mr. Calhoun consented to accept a place in his Cab- 



-.C', 



45 

inet, purely with a view to carry through the nego- 
tiations for the annexation of Texas. They could, 
with propriety, be entrusted to no other agency than 
that of a Southern statesman, and he strong enouah to 
sustain the act before the nation and the world. The 
appointment gave universal satisfaction, and the suc- 
cess, which attended it, confirmed the opinion of the 
wisdom that dictated it. Latterly there had been but 
little sympathy on public measures between the Pres- 
ident and the new Secretary, but there was one tie, 
which had prevented separation from being trans- 
formed into alienation. Calhoun could never foroet, 
Carolina could never forget, that, when in the Senate 
of the United States, her principles were stigmatized 
as treason, and herself driven to the wall, John Tyler 
was the only man, not of her soil, who boldly avowed 
his adhesion to them. 

As had been predicted by some, the annexation of 
Texas involved the nation in a war with Mexico. Mr. 
Calhoun thought the event possible, but not probable, 
if subsequent proceedings were inspired with pru- 
dence and moderation. At a later period, he con- 
tended that the mere crossing of the Del Norte, and 
the effort to occupy territory of which Mexico had 
never consented to divest herself, was not a cause of 
war. We had grounds to resist her entrance into or 
to drive her from territory, which we held under co- 
lor of right, but that we pursued an indefensible course, 
when, without causes transcendino- the limits of neo-o- 
tiation, and without a previous declaration of war, we 



tm-MT'fgtrm.LWHiti tmij.jitwKmrt if cffw 



sazy) 



46 

invaded her soil, sacked her cities and slaughtered her 
defenceless inhabitants. Her weakness, he thought, 
should have pleaded as an additional cause of for- 
bearance. Hatred of oppression and wrong; con- 
tempt for all subterfuge and indirectness of conduct, 
were the very instincts of his nature: He was a lively 
exemplification of the profound truth, uttered long 
ago by a French writer of depth and acuteness, 
"oreat thoughts come from the heart."* 

On no subject have Mr. Calhoun's views been less 
understood ; with respect to none, was he more ex- 
posed to the wanton attacks of calumny and vitupera- 
tion, than on the subject of oar peculiar institutions. 
His perspicacity w*as too searching ; his readings of 
history too ample ; his appreciation of the nature of 
language too accurate to permit him to bandy in argu- 
ment such terms as "best" and "worst," as if they car- 
ried an absolute meanino-. He knew that thev were 

O •J 

relative : relative to some previous state of things, to 
some other condition of existence. He held that in 
most instances, the government of every people was 
only a reflexion of its actual physical, moral and indus- 
trial condition : that to attempt a republic in Hindoos- 
tan, would be as bootless as to proclaim a monarchy 
in the United States. Equality of political rights pre- 
supposes equality of condition : if mental indepen- 
dence and property be generally diffused, you may 
expect to rear a fabric of government, whose move- 
m.ents may be generated and perpetuated from its own 

* " Les grandes pensees viennent du coBur." — Vativenargnes. 



CiBc; 



47 

internal energies. On the other hand, if the minds of 
the mass be yielding and prostrate ; timid and unen- 
terprizing, their spring of action must be derived from 
without. Unless the previous elements be supplied, 
you may proclaim the forms of freedom, but you will 
only evolve a subtler and more desolating phasis of 
despotism. He held it to be a " mistake so often and 
so fatally repeated, that to expel a despot is to establish 
liberty — a mistake to which we may trace the failure 
of many noble and generous efforts in favor of liberty." 
He, therefore, looked rather with apprehension than 
hope, upon the revolutionary mania, which has assailed 
the ancient institutions of Europe, within the last ^ew 
years. He saw plainly that the human condition 
must be rather deteriorated than improved, when 
anarchy is substituted for subordination. He did not 
believe, that by any declaration of liberty, however 
solemn or grandiloquent, you can make men free, un- 
less they have been prepared by a long and practical 
training. Men look with envy and desire upon the 
happy exemption from shackles, which we enjoy, but 
they forget the plain of Runn^aiiede, the fight at Edge- 
hill, the landing at Torbay, the struggle at Breed's 
Hill, and the crowning glory at York Town. You 
cannot compress such events into a day or a century. 
The spreading creeper, which shades the wall, with its 
luxuriant and graceful foliage, starts up in a few weeks 
of summer, and perishes to the root at the approach of 
winter, but the mantling oak pursues its progress to 
grandeur and strength, through sun-shine and through 



48 

storm, sometimes faster and again slower, tbrough long- 
revolving periods, affording apt shelter and cool shade 
to countless generations of ephemeral men. 

For free institutions then, there must be capacity to 
develope, and there must be time. If this be true of 
races whom nature has endowed with an original apt- 
itude for freedom, and among whom we discover, in 
all other respects, the most brilliant results of mental 
power and progress, what must be said of those, who, 
for thousands of years, have exhibited the same unde- 
viating level of deo^radation and stasf nation 1 If it be 
asked now, why the African is held in hopeless bond- 
age ? the answer is plain : because he has never 
been able, at any period of his history, to show titles 
to a higher destiny. To use the language of the im- 
mortal Stagirite,* pronounced of races, originally pos- 
sessing a much higher physical type — " They are 
slaves because it is their interest to be so : they can 
obey reason, although they are unable to exercise it." 
Are there no other portions of societ}', whose lot may 
be said to be equally hard in being deprived of all 

* Aristot. de Repub. Lib. I. Cap. 5. In all systems the safety of 
the whole depends upon the predominance of the superior pai'ts. In 
man, the soul is naturally superior to the body. Man is naturally 
sujiorlor to the lower animals, and if there be those whose intelli- 
gence reaches no higher than to render them a superior kind of 
machines, it is right, and for their own interest, that they should 
obey the hio-her intelli2:encc. Wliere these distinctions do not exist, 
but slavery depends merely upon the force ot law, it is unjust. In 
his own u"ords : 
" xoivwvwv Xoya too'stov, orfov di(fda.vs(jdtti aXXa fjLv^ cj^siv. * * * * 

* * /3aX£Tai fJl,:V 2v r) (potfif- X. T. X. * * * 

* # * * 

* * * on fx£v TOi'vuv sufi (pj(fsi tivsj." x. ~. X. 



rj II , I I iiii iTrgrTr'*Tn« i '" ' ■■^"*««j ^-^ -i i ■ ■■■. ■■.i imium^ — m ^ 



m&> 



49 

share of Government 1 Mr. Calhoun pronounced 
emphatically, that African Slavery was a blessing, be- 
cause, whatever hysteric tears a false philanthrophy 
pours over his destiny, the African sheds none for him- 
self Nature, so far, has cursed him with no dreams 
of progress which he cannot gratify. Whenever, like 
the Anglo-Saxon, he shall deal in all sorts of curious 
and gainful inventions; and by perseverance in his 
plans and audacity in their execution, he has raised 
himself to the level of his master, the tables will be 
changed — it will then be the interest of his master to 
raise him to a political level with himself, for he will 
be destitute of all power to depress him below his 
deserts. Hitherto liberty, glory, art, progress, have 
not been marked in the African vocabulary. If he 
utters them, it is because, like the tropical bird, he has 
been taught to chatter and to repeat from external 
prompting, words to which he really attaches no ideas. 
Hitherto, he has invented nothing, he has improved 
nothing: the world owes him nothing for any sino-le 
comfort, by which the lot of humanity is cheered, nor 
for any contribution to science, by which the eleva- 
tion of man's descent is asserted. He is, in truth, 
what the scathing satire of the Roman historian, de- 
picted the sensualists of his time to have been — 
" veluH pecora, quce natiira prona^ atque ventri obed'ientia 
jinxit" His lowest are his strongest instincts. With 
such an array of striking and familiar facts continually 
forcing themselves upon the notice of all, who are not 
subjept to judicial blindness, the madness of fanaticism, 



-a 



@. 



■1,1 I t, 

50 



ever since the foundation of our Constitution, has 
nevertheless been constantly dreaming of some para- 
dise of negro perfectibility. For a time, it was said, 
he had no chance : make him free and he udll sur- 
prize the world, by the rapidity of his march towards 
excellence. Have their eyes been closed upon the 
two pictures, which the march of events has unfolded 
for our instruction ? Are Hayti and Jamaica, the one 
sunk into the lowest depths of religious, moral and 
political degradation, and the other fast hastening to 
the same irreversible doom, fit objects for imitation 1 
Surely, in the words of nature's great analyst, "There 
is scarce truth enough alive to make society secure ; 
but security enough to make fellowships accursed: 
much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the 
world." 

To a philanthropy, so fraught with folly, to apply 
no harsher epithet, Mr. Calhoun could never be in- 
duced to give the slightest quarter. He beheved that 
the whole subject of slavery was foreign to the legili- 
mate action of Congress, and should be forever ban- 
ished from its halls. He was not so unreasonable as 
to expect that men, who knew nothing of the practi- 
cal working of our system, should form the same esti- 
mate of it as ourselves, but he did think it becoming, 
that when men are ignorant, they should be silent. 
He felt that it was a system, which no rude and for- 
eign hand could, with safety, be permitted to touch. 
Left to ourselves, and to the great innovator, time, he 



• — — — ■' 11 ■ ■ — 



51 

knew that the interest of the master, would of itself, 
ultimately generate any improvement that seemed 
feasible ; but that officious intrusion, although it might, 
accidentally, hurl the coordinate interests of the tw^o 
races into utter ruin, could never be productive of 
salutary change. Mr. Calhoun utterly opposed the 
whole right of petition, as having not the shghtest 
foundation in our recorded compacts. 

Farther he perceived, that for the fair and safe 
working out of the system, it must ke kept distinctly 
ao-ricultural and not be suffered to be abrido;ed of 
large and ample limits. If in the acquisition of these 
any expenses were sustained by one j)oi'tion of the 
Union, without an immediate equivalent, it had 
already been more than forestalled by the immense 
contribution of the South to the public domain and by 
the compromises to which it had already submitted, 
for the sake of peace. Beyond those compromises, he 
wasi utterly opposed to concession, for he knew, that 
if the weaker section, for an instant, acquiesced under 
any derogation of right, the little finger of usurpation 
would soon effectuate a breach large enough for the 
whole body of power to enter. He was convinced, 
that if we were less teeming with population than 
other sections, the spirit of the predominant race, was 
more than a match for any force, which could be 
brouo-ht to bear against it. His watch-word to the 
South, therefore, was equality of burdens and equality 
of privileges at any and at all hazards. Freemen 



^ tm *ff«— I 



.SiSC 



52 

should be just, generous, even wary in their demands 
upon others, but having once made an issue upon 
principle, they could afterwards yield nothing. 

"Peace be to France; if France in peace permit 

Our just and lineal entrance to our own ! 

If not, bleed France, and Peace ascend to Heav'n ! 

Whilst we, God's wrathful agent, do correct 

Their jiroud contempt, that beat his Peace to Heaven." 

Mr. Calhoun's last appearance in the Senate of the 
United States, to take any active part in its debates, 
was on the 4th of March. Although obliged to rely 
upon the utterance of a friend, we may, notwithstand- 
ing, say, *"Illa tanquam cycnea fuit divini hominis 
vox et oratio," as Cicero declared concerning Crassus, 
on the sudden demise of the latter, after having exert- 
ed himself, with great vehemence in the Senate. It 
was the last voice of the swan, chanting its own 
monody. The speech was a resumption and review 
of nearly every thing that he had been urging, for the 
last seventeen vears. He declared the balance of 
power between the North and the South to be utterly 
disturbed, in favor of the former ; that both in the 
House of Representatives and in the Electoral Col- 
lege, the North possessed a striking preponderance, 
that if the territory now contended to be surrendered 
to her prejudices, should be added to what she had 
already secured, she would have succeeded in appro- 
priating to herself three-fourths of the newly acquired 

* Dc Orat. Lib. Ill, Cap. 2. 



■BTJBiWjmai 'Bi Ti'jtm— iaaKM«g«M 



53 

public domain; that she had laid the most unjust and 
onerous imposts upon the weaker section, and revelled 
in the division of the spoils; that not satisfied with 
these, she had sought to convert a well adjusted Fed- 
eral Republic, into an absolute democratic majority ; 
that she called in Executive force to consummate the 
wrong; and that, in addition to and above all these 
grievances, for the last fifteen years, the chief public 
occupation of her people had been to preach a cru- 
sade against slavery as an unpardonable sin, and to 
band themselves together for its abolition. That insult 
and oppression had attained a height, that left the 
South no alternative, but to resist them. A remedy 
he declared must be found, and it belonged to the 
North to propose it. He protested that the cry of 
Union, had been vociferated so often, that the spell 
was losing its charm, and that even the illustrious 
Southerner, who had, under better auspices, lent the 
magic of his name to increase the force of the Talis- 
man, could he now be heard, would counsel resist- 
ance. He observed, that the two great distinctions of 
parties, which by their mutual opposition, formerly 
kept up, in every part of the country, secured the 
equilibrium of the government, were now lost in a 
secret struggle to obtain the support of fanatics, by 
surrendering the safe-guards of the Federal polity. 
He also insisted, with great power, upon the fact, that 
the bond formerly existing among the various reli- ' 
gious denominations, with some was already ruptured, 
and with the remainder was fast giving way. The 



.u 



54 

course attempted to be pursued, in the case of the ter- 
ritories, especially California, was, be declared, a 
fraud upon the Constitution, and ought to be imme- 
diatelv renounced. 

It was the parting legacy of our illustrious patriot. 
He had never uttered his opinions with more earnest- 
ness and less passion. We trust that the warning may 
not remain unheeded, nor without its salutary influ- 
ence. His whole career, from his first connection 
with the Federal Government, to its noble and im- 
pressive close, may be pronounced a triumphal pro- 
gress. The Union admired him, his own State adored 
him, troops of friends and retainers surrounded him, 
the young equally with the old flocked to his presence. 
But he was no flatterei*, no intriguer, no speculator for 
influence, supported by the power of bestowing lar- 
gesses alike on the worthless or the worthy. He was 
a severe estimator of men, but whatever any man's 
character or services properly claimed, he freely con- 
ceded to him. There was, besides, a genial sympathy 
with human nature, which stripped him of the trap- 
pings of artificial manners, whilst it invested him wuth 
a union of natural grace and dignity, inviting approach, 
but securing respect. Wisdom and instruction flowed 
from his lips in a continual stream, yet so unaffectedly 
and without all arrogance, that the listener hung upon 
his words. He possessed, also, that infallible indica- 
tion of high manners, he was in his turn a ready and 
attentive listener. No matter what the subject, if it 
involved nothing indecent or trivial, he cheerfully fol- 



.@ 



@. 



, 



55 

lowed. Nor was he eager to lead; on the contrary, 
he kindly permitted his companions to select their 
topics, knowing, that men converse most pleasantly, 
upon what they hest understand. A child would 
have been attracted by his kindliness, whilst a philoso- 
pher might feel that he stood in no ordinary presence. 
Deriving his motives of action from his own internal 
perceptions of excellence, it is astonishing how little 
solicitous he was about attracting the gaze or sharing 
the plaudits of the multitude. He refused invitations 
to public festivals to be celebrated in his own honor, 
so frequently, and they were known to be, really, so 
little to his taste, that they were, at last, withheld from 
motives of respect to his opinion. He might arrive at 
an hotel, when crowded, and be refused its hospitality, 
because his person was not recognized. He has been 
denied, by the way-side, a cup of cold water, to slake 
his feverish thirst, because wholly unknown; the un- 
fortunate author of the denial, long after, when appriz- 
ed of his mistake, saying that had he declared himself, 
he would have run miles to gratify his wish. On one 
occasion, business calling him into a neighboring State, 
it happened that an humble laborer in the mines was 
prostrated with fever. When the Physician arrived, 
quite late at night, he found a very unpretending per- 
son, seated at the foot of the patient's bed, and pro- 
ceeded, as a matter of course, to interrogate him con- 
cernino- the case. Having retired, the next day, the 
Physician observed the same person, in the piazza of 
the village tavern, and eagerly enquired who he was, 



56 

for said be, "I met him last nigbt, in the sick chamber, 
and was astonished at the clearness and pertinence of 
bis remarks." " Do you not know him," replied the 
person addressed? "That, Sir, is John C. Calhoun." 
This anecdote rests on indubitable authority, and has 
been related, because it appears to be in such admi- 
rable keeping wdth the whole character of the man. 

When at the head of the War Department, some 
one offered to name to him an individual of his office, 
who was in the habit of betraying the secrets of his 
department to his opponents. His reply was charac- 
teristic: "My bitterest enemies are welcome to know 
all that occurs in my department. I think w^ell of all 
about me, and do not wish to change my opinion, and 
as far as the communication of information is concern- 
ed, I only regret that my permission was not asked, 
as it would have been freely granted."* 

Mr. Calhoun's eloquence was of that highest order, 
which baffles criticism. It was not the result of rules, 
and yet from it, the highest rules may be derived. 
When intending to speak, his first aim was to make 
himself familiar with the details of his subject in all its 
bearings. His mind immediately discriminated be- 
tween what was unimportant and what was essential 
to the merits of the case. Arrangement followed, 
placing everything in regular connection and sequence. 
If tropes and similies presented themselves and could 



* Sec a terse and succinct biography, prefixed to the collected 
edition of Mr, Calhoun's Speeches. I have found it useful as a 
reference. 



'Q) 



t3''a 



57 

be gathered up, without turning out of" the way to 
reach them, he knew well enough how to weave them 
gracefully, into the tissue of his discourse. The 
splendor of his thoughts, and the absence of all con- 
cealment and indirectness, imparted to his language a 
crystal clearness, which, whilst it could not be mis- 
taken, was sure to attract and rivet attention. His 
tall erect person awakened interest as he arose to 
speak, and his brilliant eyes seemed to lend his 
thoughts the nimblest avenues into the hearts of his 
hearers. In him the tacit compact for truth, be- 
tween ft public orator and his hearers was religiously 
respected. "Never! Never! Never!" did the heart of 
the man suggest one thing and his language another. 
Makino- due allowance for the difference between an- 
cient and modern manners, his whole image may be said 
to have been formed in the Roman mould, by nature 
herself, for he was far above the servility of imitation. 
What the historian has recorded of the younger Cato, 
is as applicable to our illustrious statesman, as if it had 
been drawn from himself — "A man, as like as possible 
to virtue, and in everything more allied to a higher 
order of beings than to men, who never performed 
what was right, in order that he might be seen to do 
it, but because he could not act otherwise ; to whom, 
also, that alone appeared reasonable, w4iich was sanc- 
tioned by justice; free from all human vices, he al- 
ways remained the arbiter of his own fortune."* 

* Homo virtuti simillimus, et per omnia ingenio Diis, quam homi- 
nibus proprior; qui nunquam recte fecit, ut facere videretur, sed 



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©. 



58 

During forty years the political fortunes of South 
Carolina might be said to have been embarked in the 
same vessel with Mr. Calhoun. The voyage was 
prosperous and happy for both ; exposed to no un- 
toward storms, subject to no dangerous under-currents, 
and to the last 

" his mistress 
Did hold his eyes, lock'd in her crystal looks!" 

In noticing the characters of public men, it is often 
necessary to take a distinction between their private 
and their public morals. It may well be a fresh 
source of consolation, amidst the tears which bedew 
the memory of our departed patriot, that in domestic 
life, he has bequeathed an example to posterity, in all 
respects w^orthy of imitation. His piety, his morality, 
his philanthropy, all the gentle yearnings of his na- 
ture were without display ; leading to the constant 
and conscientious performance, even of the humblest 
duties, 

" As ever in his great task-master's eye !" 

No man could with more propriety adopt language 
such as that he used, when closing a reply to an attack 
made upon him, by a generous, but mistaken adver- 
sary: "I then transfer this and all my subsequent acts. 



'juia, aliter facere non poterat, cuique id solum visum est rationem 
habere, quod haberet justitiam; omnibus humanis vitiis inimunis, 
.semper fortunam in sua potestate habuit. — C. V. Paterculi : Lib. II., 
Cap. 35. 



©. 



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including the present, to the tribunal of posterity, with 
a perfect confidence, that nothing will be found, in 
what I have said or done, to impeach my integrity or 
understandinff." 



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